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Mayor's column: Savage sees good and bad as pandemic continues

As time goes on in these unusual times, it has become evident that we need to learn to live with the coronavirus. Life is different, we are doing things differently, and normal as we knew it will not exist. We will have a new way of doing things because we are learning that some of these changes are better. Things might seem bad, and they are, but I believe that out of this crisis will come new opportunity.

We went from “Stay at Home” to “Safe at Home,” and from that will come personal responsibility. That means that we still need to wear the mask, wash our hands often, keep our distance and congregate in groups of 10 or fewer.

At this week’s City Council meeting we opened our playgrounds, allowed athletics association to use our athletic fields when they have a plan to do so safely and allowed groups of 10 or fewer to use the basketball courts and fields. City Hall is open to the public and the library is moving to a plan of appointments to use the computers etc.

The dome continues to be inflated because the people contracted to do the work are not available due to the virus. We have notified the neighbors and are unsure if it will come down at all this year.

We are sad to note the closing of M.W. Savage Elementary School — a school named after our city’s namesake. It is the end of an era for me, as I attended the school and was there when it opened. I volunteered there for years when my granddaughters were students. The school district staff have been involved with the city on new plans for the school.

Another loss is that we know that Perkins and Bonfire will not reopen.

Many happy things are happening, too. Our second blood drive is May 31, and registration is full. The farmers market opens on Sunday, June 7, following some new guidelines. New city banners have been installed in the downtown and on Glendale.

Pantry 191 is providing for residents experiencing food insecurity. District 191 in cooperation with Allina Health will be distributing 100 new bikes and helmets to children. Used ones are accepted, too. Two city organizations are providing bike locks.

Our third workforce housing project, the 57-unit Sedgewick Terrace on Highway 13, is going through the approval process.

And I hope that you all filled out your census form, because soon you will be receiving our biennial city survey, where you can tell us what you like about the city and what you would like to see improved.

We also had a surprise visitor to City Hall. Kat Perkins, a finalist on “The Voice,” let us know that she was stopping to thank us for what we do. She pulled up in a pickup in the parking lot with a guitarist, sang her song “Fearless” and another, thanked us and moved on. We stood in the parking lot 6 feet apart and were in awe!

At this time of year, we think about all of the graduates as they step forward to be our future leaders. At our council meeting I read a proclamation honoring them. I also read a proclamation acknowledging the seven graduates of Burnsville and Prior Lake high schools who live in Savage and are entering the military.

Sometimes you just have to let your heart be troubled for awhile. March was difficult for me for a number of reasons. As I sit and write this, I am thinking that I am supposed to be on a plane with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters to visit my relatives in Norway. Obviously the pandemic canceled all of that.

But life goes on, as I am enjoying the lilacs and my big beautiful bleeding heart plant in bloom, the giant piliated woodpecker at my window eating suet, the hummingbirds at my feeder and a Norwegian flag on a pole in my yard.